Besides two short pieces by Ives and Penderecki, this album features chamber music by composers of the so-called New Vienna School: Schoenberg and his students – Berg and Webern.
The earliest of the New Vienna School works on this album is Anton Webern's "Four Pieces for Violin and Piano," Op. 7 (1910). Like other works by the composer created between 1908 and 1914, these pieces are striking in their brevity (the first piece consists of only 9 bars!). At the same time, these are not miniatures in the usual sense (as a miniature is a smaller version of a larger form); rather, they are pieces with a fundamentally new sense of meaningful compactness. It is impossible to "expand" their scale – doing so would lead to excessive content and structural redundancy, disrupting their internal balance and harmony. The sonic life of this music is extremely delicate and refined, and its form deviates from academic standards; the absence of thematic reprises creates the impression that these fragile creations emerge from some inaudible yet ongoing sonic process and, appearing momentarily, disappear back into infinity.
Alban Berg's "Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano," Op. 5 (1913, premiered in 1919), were undoubtedly influenced by the short forms of Webern and Schoenberg (to whom they are dedicated). These pieces are marked by a high degree of drama. The future author of the famous operas "Wozzeck" and "Lulu" foreshadows in these chamber pieces the intensity of passion and the psychologically accurate musical language of these dramas. The desire for a unifying concept and cohesive development gradually led Berg to create large cyclical instrumental works (Three Pieces for Orchestra, "Lyric Suite" for string quartet, Chamber Concerto, Violin Concerto), and he did not return to microforms.
Berg's Chamber Concerto for Piano, Violin, and 13 Winds (1923–1925) is also dedicated to Schoenberg. Its second part – Adagio – is a complete contrast to the dynamic outer sections, one of Berg's lyrical revelations. Shortly before his death, in February 1935, he transcribed this part for a trio, preserving the solo violin part entirely, while distributing the orchestral voices between the piano and clarinet. In the arrangement, two small cuts were made to the original text of the Concerto.
In this work, Berg's special trait inherited from Mahler is evident: psychological "eventfulness," emotional richness. No matter how intricate and branched the structure, it always mirrors events of an emotional order, deeply human drama. The entire atmosphere of the Adagio, with its plasticity of full-sounding harmonies and fluid lines (there is not a single caesura, not a single seam, all transitions are smooth, contrasts softened), evokes Wagner's "Tristan." The state of languid exaltation dominating the Adagio is emphasized by the flashing tonal harmonies and the surprisingly beautiful concluding C major, which seems to freeze in an unstable balance.
In 1949, Arnold Schoenberg wrote the "Fantasy for Violin with Piano Accompaniment," Op. 47, for American violinist Adolf Koldofsky. This virtuosic concert piece was created in an unusual way: the violin part was written first (to which Schoenberg's words about his Violin Concerto are applicable: "This piece is for a violinist with six fingers"), and then the piano accompaniment was added. The Fantasy consists of a series of contrasting episodes – some lyrical, some scherzo-like, some heroically resolute. They are introduced and concluded by a pathetic recitative, Grave.
Among the numerous chamber works by American composer Charles Ives are four sonatas for violin and piano. In 1901, Ives wrote Largo – the slow movement of a planned sonata (the so-called "pre-first" sonata), which he never completed. This small piece, lyrical and somewhat sentimental, was later reworked by the composer for a trio (violin, clarinet, piano). The music of Largo reflects the echoes of American urban folklore, with characteristic syncopated rhythms and harmonic suspensions, foreshadowing blues techniques.
The name of Krzysztof Penderecki, one of Poland's most prominent contemporary composers, first appeared at the Warsaw Autumn festival in 1959, and since then, numerous premieres and performances of his works have invariably become major events in the musical life of Poland and other countries. Instrumental-sound inventiveness is the main distinguishing feature of this composer’s work. Penderecki boldly explores the rich possibilities of string instruments: playing behind the bridge (arco and pizzicato), irregular tremolo, vibrato extending to a semitone, striking the body of the instrument with the bow stick, etc.
A small encyclopedia of these sound innovations is the "Three Miniatures for Violin and Piano" – an early work by the composer (1959). Each of them has its own sound world and instrumental techniques. In the first, both instruments engage in an unhurried dialogue; the second piece is a violin cadenza against the background of the piano strings with the pedal open, creating the effect of a "breathing" sound space; the third piece uses piano pizzicato.
Aleksey Lyubimov
